Simply Carlos

Abortion. It is simply the murder of babies and hurting women....

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:24:45 -0400

Abortion. It is simply the murder of babies and hurting women. Let us pray to our lady for all those babies that will never be born, those helpless babies that feel pain when being aborted, and for all the countless Men and women who participate in this most regrettable action.

May The Lord our God bless and protect our mothers! There is no...

Sun, 12 May 2013 03:51:23 -0400

May The Lord our God bless and protect our mothers! There is no more glorious vocation then to the Motherhood!

Just a little Humor, Pray for the Holy Father and For Holy...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:39:43 -0500

Just a little Humor, Pray for the Holy Father and For Holy Church as we enter Sede Vacante.

The New Yorker: Live Chat: The Ethics of Drone Warfare

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:41:36 -0500

The New Yorker: Live Chat: The Ethics of Drone Warfare:

newyorker:

Years of secrecy surrounding the United States’ drone program have left many questions—about targeted killings, transparency and due process; the power of President; and where battlefields begin and end.

Today at 3 P.M. E.T., Michael Walzer, the author of “Just and Unjust Wars” and…

We shall Miss secretary of State Hilary Clinton. She was one of...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:50:28 -0500

We shall Miss secretary of State Hilary Clinton. She was one of the finest ones this nation has seen. She is the most traveled secretary to date.

New Blog!

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 04:36:00 -0500

The Lord be with You!

For all you Catholics out there (Shout out) I have started a new blog to discover and rejoice in the Catholic Faith! Please follow my blog and share it!

The new blog is called: Sancti Corporis Christi

That is Latin for: Holy Body of Christ

Follow and share this!!!!!!

http://corporischristi.tumblr.com/

+Pax tibi et bonum

- Carlos Perez-Campbell

Divinity of Christ

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:07:32 -0500

All Christians at all times have made a claim about Jesus Christ that no other religion has ever made about its leader: namely, that He is God in the flesh. Unfortunately, this doctrine that many Christians take for granted is now coming under vigorous attack from numerous and various quarters: even among those who claim to believe in the inspiration of the Bible. Does the Bible indeed teach that Jesus is God?

“Who do you say I am?” Matthew 15-16

The Gospels were written to be Historical Narratives based on the Roman-Greko standards. They were written in the life time of Jesus and all the Gospels can be scholarly traced back to the people whom were present disciples of Jesus.

THEY ARE HISTORICITY ACCURATE!! It is in the Gospels that we can find the true evidence that YES Jesus is Christ; He is God.

First of all, it is clear that Jesus referred to himself as God. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 8:58). “I AM” is the Divine Name, the unutterable name, the name revealed to Moses in the burning bush:

Exodus 3:13-14 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

By taking upon Himself the Divine Name, Jesus is declaring His divinity. The passage also strongly implies that Jesus is outside of time: an attribute only possessed by God. If Jesus is not God, then His words here are completely nonsensical.

Jesus’ words during His Temptation in the desert are also instructive. When Satan tempted Jesus to throw Himself off a cliff, even presuming to quote Scripture so as to make the temptation more persuasive, Jesus responded by saying, “You should not tempt the Lord your God” (Mt 4:7) — in reference to Himself! Satan was tempting God by tempting Jesus, and Jesus made sure Satan knew it.

Jesus also called Himself the “Son of God,” which, to the Jewish mindset, was a very radical statement. During Jesus’ trial before the Jewish leaders, the High Priest said to Jesus, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Mt 26:63). Jesus responded by saying, “You have said so” (vs. 64), or as the NIV has it, “Yes, it is as you say.” The High Priest responded by tearing his robes and saying, “He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy” (vs. 65).

Later, before Pontius Pilate, the Jews said, “We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God” (Jn 19:7). They knew that to declare oneself to be “the Son of God” was to declare that one was of the same nature with God. The son of a father always takes on the nature of the father. Or, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, the Son “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature” (1:3).

The Jews rebuked Jesus for healing a man who couldn’t walk, and telling him to carry his pallet on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by saying, “My Father is working still, and I am working” (Jn 5:17). Immediately after this, John is sure to tell us, in case we are not convinced, “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (vs. 18).

Jesus, in order to make this more explicit, even said to the Jews, “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30). When they heard this, “The Jews took up stones again to stone him” (vs. 31). Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” (vs. 32) The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God” (vs. 33).

Finally, when John, in his Revelation, saw a vision of “the Son of Man”, this figure said to him, “Fear not, I am the first and the last” (Rev 1:17). This Son of Man is equating Himself with “the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” who said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (vs. 8). Jesus, of course, called Himself “Son of Man” on many occasions throughout His ministry (28 times in Matthew’s gospel alone).

Jesus therefore is Christ (ancient Greek: Χριστός, Christós, meaning ‘anointed this is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ), the Messiah, and is used as a title for Jesus in the New Testament.)

Jesus as well claimed divinity by performing Miracles were through his own power. In the bible Jesus forgave the Sins of a man. According to the Jewish Tradition only God ALONE forgive the sins of man. Jesus responded, “The Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.” He told man to walk and they walked.

Jesus was called the Bride/Groom

Jesus was called self the Lord of the Sabbath

These are titles reserved only for God.

CHRIST IS DIVINE! HE IS GOD MADE FLESH!

If Jesus was a common man he would have given up the gig during the Passion. What man would have endured what Jesus did ? None! Only God himself would have been able to go through with the agonizing passion.

What about Easter ? What would have the Disciplined of Jesus gotten out of lying?

They received Punishment and Death. Why did these men suffer and become martyrs for Christ if he were a common man? If it were a lie at least one of them would have talked. But instead they spread the words of Christ like wild fire to all ends of the world while facing life threatening challenges.

Christianity isn’t about some distant God in a far away place…It isn’t about madness or lies…But about a real person. It is about God made Flesh.

The foregoing is very clear. Much more, too, could be presented; for example: attributes of God that Jesus possesses (such as omnipotence and omniscience), other titles of Christ (e.g., “Lord,” “Savior,” “King of kings,” etc.: all applied to the Father in the OT), or His forgiving sins in His own name: all plain indications of His divinity.

We must give eternal Praise and Glory to Jesus CHRIST. For he is God!

Please comment feel free to give some thoughts and insights. This is meant to provoke young minds to look further into Catholicism. Have a question? Ask me!

Father Carlos? Why I want to become a Catholic Priest.

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:57:00 -0500

The Priesthood…

It is the 21st century. Why would anyone even consider joining a centuries old fraternity of old men slowly waiting for death.

Well I have a well thought out answer.

I know what you are thinking, but NO; the cool black dress shirt, dress pants, and black shoes along with the age old ”Tongue Depressor.” or most commonly known as, “That white tab Priest wear on their neck.” is not the number one Reason I want to become a Priest.

First my faith journey began at a very young age. My very first memory is in my Native Mexico. I was at Mass with my Grandmother whom would take care of me while my parents were at work. The Priest was lifting the Blessed Body and Blood of our lord and said, “Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis honor, et gloria, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen” We were at an early Mass and all around us the Nuns were making the sign of the Cross. I then yelled out, “Papa Dios.” This is my earliest memory.

My entire life I have grown up Catholic. Mass every Sunday, Prayers before sleep, and the occasional Rosary. The Church was a massive part of my life. When I was asked what I wanted to be I would often respond, “A Priest!” As a child I would love to play Mass and I always was the Priest. I was fascinated by the Idea of the Priesthood. Not because of the Masses and Requiems, The clothing, The life…NO it was because they had what I wanted. They were close to God.

Christ our Lord called his apostles to leave everything and follow him. To receive a Vocation to the Priesthood is to be called to a Special Relationship with Christ. I as a faithful Catholic feel a call to a deeper relationship with our Lord. I will enter the clerical state through the ceremony of tonsure and I will become, “Alter Christus” I am to leave my own will and follow the will of our Lord. I shall to offer sacrifice, administer the Sacraments, be a shepherd of souls, preach the word of God. I would be called to service the flock of God where ever it may take me. As a Priest I would be at the total service of Christ Flock.

With no life of my own simply sharing a life in Christ I could do the wonderful things I enjoy to do. HELP OTHERS. Yes, I would be able to live a selfless life of service and aid to others around me. I would feed the poor, cloths the naked, comfort the afflicted. I could train the youth in the church to know the faith and live it out! The priest is indeed another Christ, or in some way he is himself a continuation of Christ. I could live a life as intended by our lord. I, as a Priest, Would be the Voice of Christ in the Desert that is this World. I could perform the Sacrifice of the Mass on a daily basis offering eternal thanks and Praise to God! I could also provide the proper Parish to nurture vocations of many and deepen the Faith of all. I could change things from within. Offer a stricter form of Catholicism and save many from a life of eternal damnation in Hell.

In the Church of today the “notion of sin was lost”. We can only appreciate our salvation and justification in Jesus Christ to the extent that we recognize the “wretchedness” of our sinfulness and how our sin is responsible for the one sacrifice of Jesus, his shedding of his blood on the cross, his death and his glorious resurrection. If sin and redemption are trivialized in the celebration of Mass, as they have been over that last few decades, then the central Christian experience of being forgiven and being a “wretch” in need of forgiveness will be trivialized as well. Only the one who truly understands the need for forgiveness will hunger and thirst for the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

Fr. Cioffi states that “we have carried the principle of variability of ritual and musical forms to a degree which destroys the very concept of ritual whose nature is to be the same.” Without contemplation created by “silence, sameness, repetition, and precision in the ritual,” there is the unfortunate tendency to keep improvising which then destroys the essence of ritual.

I could as a Catholic Priest repair the Church. Repair the essence of the ritual and give a meaning to the Church which has been lost in the hearts of millions.

I Carlos Ricardo Perez-Campbell would be Another Christ.

It’s trendy to be a traditionalist in the Catholic Church

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:26:00 -0500

Cardinal Walter Brandmuller elevates the Eucharist during a Tridentine-rite Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican May 15, 2011. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Vatican II was an attempt by the Catholic Church to reach out and adapt into the Modern World. The hope was that it would reform the Church in order to attract the worlds Catholic back to Holy Church. However…At least in the West, It miserably failed.

Believers have left in droves. Here in the nation I live, The United States, the attendance of Holy Mass has has declined by over a third since 1960. In my own Parish familiar faces continually leave citing various issues, but all can be summarized as an in satisfaction with the Parish it’s self. Children do not understand the faith and sadly enough the Parents do not understand it either. Rome…We have a Problem. Looking from the outside in someone could very well say that the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church could very well be on route into the catacombs of History. However as a Church we refuse to do so.

Yet a beacon of hope has been lit for millions of Catholic around the world. Hope in Holy Church is begging to be restored from an unlikely source… The extraordinary form of the Mass. Take the Latin mass, dumped by the Vatican in 1962 for liturgies in vernacular languages. In its most traditional form, the priest consecrates the bread and wine in a whisper with his back to the congregation: anathema to those who think openness is the spirit of the age. But Father John Zuhlsdorf, an American priest and blogger, says it challenges worshippers, unlike the cosy liberalism of the regular services. “It is not just a school assembly,” he says.

My generation is scared with uncertainty. Economic ruin, War, and Social unrest across the world. It seems that every thing is no longer safe. However many of us, including me, have found the sanctuary we have searched for. The only certain thing in a time plagued by uncertainty. We have found Christ himself in the Catholic Church of yesterday. The very form of the Mass and Tradition which was so painfuly executed by the Vatican II council in the 1960’s. By the understanding of His Holiness Pope Benedict the XVI the Latin Mass and old view of the Church has been unshackled. It has resurrected from the dead to save millions. (Yes i am comparing it to the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord) The Youth is demanding the Latin Mass and a stricter form of Catholicism.

But it is not a fogeys’ hangout: the congregation is young and international. Like evangelical Christianity, traditional Catholicism is attracting people who were not even born when the Second Vatican Council tried to rejuvenate the church. Traditionalist groups have members in 34 countries, including Hong Kong, South Africa and Belarus. Juventutem, a movement for young Catholics who like the old ways, boasts scores of activists in a dozen countries. Traditionalists use blogs, websites and social media to spread the word—and to highlight recalcitrant liberal dioceses and church administrators, who have long seen the Latinists as a self-indulgent, anachronistic and affected minority. In Colombia 500 people wanting a traditional mass had to use a community hall (they later found a church).

A big shift came in 2007 when Pope Benedict XVI formally endorsed the use of the old-rite Latin mass. Until that point, fondness for the traditional liturgy could blight a priest’s career. The cause has also received new vim from the Ordinariate, a Vatican-sponsored grouping for ex-Anglicans. Dozens of Anglican priests have “crossed the Tiber” from the heavily ritualistic “smells and bells” high-church wing; they find a ready welcome among traditionalist Roman Catholics.

The return of the old rite causes quiet consternation among more modernist Catholics. Timothy Radcliffe, once head of Britain’s Dominicans, sees in it “a sort of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ nostalgia”. The traditionalist revival, he thinks, is a reaction against the “trendy liberalism” of his generation. Some swings of pendulums may be inevitable. But for a church hierarchy in Western countries beset by scandal and decline, the rise of a traditionalist avant-garde is unsettling. Is it merely an outcrop of eccentricity, or a (as I feel) it is a sign that the church took a wrong turn 50 years ago.

A little Art ;)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 18:10:54 -0400

A little Art ;)

The case for the Latin Mass in the 21st Century

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:22:00 -0400

It was often said that the “Closest thing to Heaven on Earth” was the celebration of the forma extraordinaria of the Holy Mass commonly referred to as the Latin Mass. After Vatican II the Latin Mass ceased to be widely used and the Mass began to be celebrated in other languages. The Latin mass was celebrated for over 1,500+ years which Christ Holy Catholic Church has been using the forma extraordinaria,thus the Church has lost a large part of Tradition.

The forma extraordinaria of the Mass was stored away into the depths of the Vatican archives and only celebrated in a handful of Mass’ selected by Catholic Bishops as instructed in Ecclesia Dei. As the Church entered the 21st century ofAnno Domini the Holy Roman Catholic Church was faced with a massive crisis, A changing world and declining Church membership. The Latin mass was very rarely celebrated or talked about as these issues began to take center stage. Until 2007 of Anno Domini, when his Holiness Pope Benedict the XVI issued the apostolic letter, “Motu Proprio” which allowed priest around the world to resume celebration of the ”Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962” (the form known as the Tridentine Mass).

The announcement form the Vatican was extraordinary for the Latin Mass was at the verge of extinction. The case for the Mass however was very well understood by his Holiness and in his letter he addresses fears of the decision. “In the first place, there is the fear that the document detracts from the authority of the Second Vatican Council, one of whose essential decisions – the liturgical reform – is being called into question.” Of course there is very much resistance by very many within the Church, including Bishops. These groups argue that his Holiness wants to undo the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and that he is returning to Dark Age mindset of the Church. His Holiness addresses this by stating, “This fear is unfounded. In this regard, it must first be said that the Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II, obviously is and continues to be the normal Form – the Forma ordinaria – of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The last version of the Missale Romanum prior to the Council, which was published with the authority of Pope John XXIII in 1962 and used during the Council, will now be able to be used as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgical celebration. It is not appropriate to speak of these two versions of the Roman Missal as if they were “two Rites”. Rather, it is a matter of a twofold use of one and the same rite.” A Catholic must wonder why his Holiness the Pope would take such a move, but to me a 16 year old cradle Catholic it is very evident. The Latin Mass has been locked up for nearly 60 years now and in this move his Holiness has cried out that the traditional form of Catholic worship cannot die! The reason is because it is so beautiful, so rich in history and human experience and supernatural value that it must not be withheld from the world any longer! It must not be lost to the world that very badly needs it. And so His Holiness Pope Benedict the XVI has freed it.

His Holiness is not openly declaring war on the Reforms of Vatican II. As his Holiness states, “I now come to the positive reason which motivated my decision to issue this Motu Proprio updating that of 1988. It is a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church. Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden. This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today: to make every effort to enable for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew. I think of a sentence in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, where Paul writes: “Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return … widen your hearts also!” (2 Cor 6:11-13). Paul was certainly speaking in another context, but his exhortation can and must touch us too, precisely on this subject. Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.”

Since the 60’s the liturgical establishment has been repressing even the gentlest yearning of using the old Mass-the faintest curiosity about it-was dark and sick and spiritually corrupt. His Holiness could have said as a Priest stated in a homily, “Time out, the noble experiment of the 60’s is over. It didn’t work.” He could have looked at the lack of vocations—the empty seminaries and convents, he could have looked at the ever-lowering number of people who go to Mass—the ever-increasing number of Catholic people for whom the Church and her teaching means nothing. he could have said, “Well whatever we changed about the Mass in the 60’s—thinking it was going to help—well… it didn’t—so everybody back to the old ways.” He could have said that, but he didn’t because in his heart of hearts he realizes that instant change is problematic. His Holiness makes the point that the changes of Vatican II was done to harshly and came from the top not the people.

I agree with his Holiness in that the Latin Mass does have a place in our Modern Catholic World and if nothing else the World NEEDS that Mass more now then ever. The Latin Mass was a point of Unity for the Catholic Church. You could travel to any part of the World and the Mass would be the same regardless of the location. It was a vital part of our Catholic history and Tradition. The Latin Mass was full of tradition, devoutness, and strong engagement which the current form of the Mass has lacked leading us down the current path the Church has been going on. The reforms of Vatican II were much to artificial and superficial and gave the Catholic community that the Mass was more about creativity and entertainment then about the Sacrifice of Christ. Today many Catholics find themselves having difficulty to stay engaged during the mass, but if we returned to the Latin Mass they would be in full prayer and / or following along very diligently in the translation books in order to respond on time. We can learn in our modern world how to better Worship God from the Latin Mass. We could return to our strong Catholic Culture which made us unique from the whole World. I think His Holiness Document is the Pope’s response to the Bishops to their failures over the past 40 years in passing on the faith in maintaining a Catholic culture of life and family in fostering vocations and devotion to the Mass. The Pope more or less said, “You have had forty years to make it all work—well here is my response to you.” A portion of the Catholic Community of the 21st Century now believes that they can pick and choose which Catholic teachings to follow.

Some Catholics today have Sex before marriage, have abortions, and are in favor of Gay marriage. This could very well be an unforeseen consequence of the liberal moves of Vatican II. Maybe in the Latin Mass, Catholics can see a more strict devotion to the Faith. The Church can become more intimate with Christ during the Amazing Latin Mass. The Holy Roman Catholic Church must take a step back in order to move forward. Vatican II is not working as intended and instead is bringing the Church to a point of Crisis. Many will be resistant to the Latin mass and many may argue that Latin is dead, but we do not always need our language to understand something. We need light and dark, sound and silence, motion and stillness. We don’t need a line by line translation of the Mass all we need to know is that somehow Christ has given himself up for us as our Sacrifice and then given Himself to us as our Food. It is the gestures and movement, the sounds and sights that tell us that and maybe more surely than words by themselves. Again the Holy Spirit speaks more strongly to us in the Latin mass. Often I pray the Rosary in Latin and I feel a much stronger connection to God through the ancient prayers of the Church. One thing is for sure the Latin Mass encouraged more young men and women to enter Holy Orders. We know that the vocations of millions of young men to the priesthood and women to the sisterhood will nourished at the Latin Mass and this despite the fact they do not really know Latin. In the final analysis no one needs to hear or understand the literal meaning of every word or any word. It is enough to know that somehow Christ is being offered in an unbloody manner for the sake of our souls. And if you know that you know what the Mass is all about.

In the end the Church needs to take action now in order to save our beloved Church. His Holiness wants us to be confident that the older way of Mass has its own special genius and beauty and grace which we in this modern world cannot afford to dismiss or lose. And that we can learn how better to worship God from the old Mass being celebrated alongside the New Mass.

I am convinced that His Holiness has a vision that in a hundred years the good elements from the Mass of John XXIII and the good elements from the Mass of Paul VI will coalesce— organically and naturally— into a most fruitful and beautiful Mass of some future Pope.

Pourquoi aimez-vous parler de la politique? Vous êtes jeune, seize ou dix sept ans, mais vous parlez de la politique tout le temps sur l'internet. En anglais: I am sorry, I do not speak english well. Why do you like to speak of politics? You are young, sixteen or seventeen years, but you speak of politics all of the time.

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:00:00 -0400

Merci pour la question. Alors Je pense que cet très important que toute le monde parler de la politique. Pourquoi? Parce-que est notre avenir, et notre monde. Oui je suis très jeune mais un jour ma génération sera en charge, et je vais participer dans la discussion politique de toute le problèmes que notre monde est confrontes a.

Merci de lire mon Blog

-Carlos Perez

The Race on Innovation?

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:12:15 -0400

Travel to Shekou, a port city in Shenzhen, and you will find the stirrings of something unexpected: entrepreneurial capitalism.

This part of China, home to many mega-factories like those of Foxconn (which makes Apple’s iPads) is known as the world’s workshop. But if you visit Microport, a startup firm funded by venture capital, you will find a group of tech entrepreneurs with a global mindset trying to disrupt an overpriced, legacy-ridden industry (in their case, the one for medical diagnostics equipment). In the staff canteen hangs a portrait of the late Steve Jobs uttering his motto, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” Microport’s dynamic founder says his dream is for China to become an innovation powerhouse that produces its own homegrown Apple.

Much has been made about Chinese sweatshops sucking away American jobs, of currency manipulation and unfair trade practices. In fact, there’s a bigger threat to American competitiveness.

Cheap China is fading fast, and innovative China is emerging. The Chinese government is investing tens of billions of dollars into science and engineering research and education, and lavishing tax breaks and subsidies on technology firms and clusters, in an effort to leapfrog the country to the cutting edge of innovation.

That is why bashing China and using it as an excuse for industrial policies that subsidize uncompetitive domestic companies is a folly. This applies as much to Solyndra, a bankrupt American solar firm that got taxpayer subsidies, as it does to the lagging French toymaking industry, which has been declared “strategic.”How should America and other developed economies respond and stay on top in the 21st century’s ideas economy? For a start, do no harm. Politicians should remember that global innovation is not a zero-sum game: China’s rise does not have to come at America’s expense. Three decades ago, many Cassandras wailed that Japan, with its centrally planned innovation investments and its superior cultural values, would crush the West. In fact, Japan’s peaceful rise went hand in hand with America’s entrepreneurs forging the new industries of the digital age.

An even more dangerous prospect is a trade war, somthing that might happen as a result of Western governments ganging up on China at the World Trade Organization over its policies on rare Earth minerals. Top-down efforts to pick technology winners are bound to waste taxpayers’ money. And forcing a trade war would actually hurt America, since its economy benefits the most from an open global flow of goods, people and ideas.

America’s leaders should see China’s inexorable surge as a rising tide that can lift all boats—providing, of course, that you patch the holes in your vessel first. That means shoring up the things that made America the world’s innovation powerhouse in the first place.

First, America needs to reverse its policies that, since 9/11, have turned hostile toward talented immigrants. For decades, the American economy benefited from the gift of the world’s brightest and most enterprising. Studies have shown that more than a third of the start-ups in Silicon Valley have at least one founder born in India or China.

Bill Gates points out the absurdity of today’s immigration policies. Brilliant Chinese students make up much of the graduate program in computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, benefiting from a subsidized education. When they graduate and want to start companies that would hire many Americans, they are refused visas. So, as Gates notes, they go home and start companies there that compete with America instead.

Another hole that needs to be patched is in research funding. America’s funding for research, measured as a percent of national output, has stagnated even as the rising giants of the developing world are investing heavily. It is wise to invest during economic recessions in those few things—like education, smart infrastructure and research—that are the essential enablers of longer term innovation, productivity and higher economic growth.

Finally, America can make it easier for young firms, which have created almost all the net new jobs the last few decades, to find capital. Banks usually refuse to fund start-ups, and even many venture capitalists have turned risk averse. Typically, entrepreneurs rely on friends, family and fools. But an important bill in Congress now that has support from both parties and the White House would make it easier to tap wider networks through “crowdfunding.” Congress should pass this bill quickly, and help entrepreneurial energy to kick-start growth.

The surest path from stagnation to rejuvenation lies in innovation. If America wants to stay at the top, it needs to gear up on innovation.

Could Middle East tensions boil over?

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:13:05 -0500

The situation in Syria is spiraling downward. The country is inching towards full scale civil war. Violence is increasingly sustained and the Syrian regime seems unable to stop the opposition.

At the same time, we are watching an open Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran with Syria as the battle ground. The Saudi King publicly said (and, remember, the Saudis are very reluctant to say things publicly) to the Russian President that any dialogue with Syria is “futile” - that we need to push the regime of Bashar al-Assad out. The Iranians, on the other side, are warning the outside world against intervening in Syria.

This is all a huge security boon for Israel. Iran - the country that Israel views as its principle threat in the region - is finding itself in a very weakened position because it chose to go all-in on Syria. Iran made the decision to simply to back the Syrian regime no matter what and now they’re getting further and further isolated. The Russians have stopped publicly speaking out in favor of Syria. The Chinese have never been very vocal. And the Iraqis, who had initially taken a relatively supportive position, have retreated.

The Iranians are almost alone in supporting the Syrian regime now and this leaves them suffering humiliation and enormous cash outflows to support this regime. At the end of the day, Iran is backing a sinking ship. It seems highly unlikely that two years from now al-Assad will be in power.

In addition to that, the Iranians are feeling the pressure of sanctions and further isolation. I think that U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, was right to say that this would not be a prudent time to attack Iran. Doing so would completely change the debate. Right now, the discussion revolves around Iran’s support of Syria. If Iran is attacked, it would transform the debate into one about a western-supported attack on a Muslim country. It would completely change Iran’s political and military calculus. At the very least, now would seem to be the wrong time to strike Iran.

Meanwhile, we are seeing Yemen’s leader Ali Abdullah Saleh finally leaving office, potentially auguring a period of instability in Yemen. Outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Yemen has had probably the strongest al Qaeda cells in the world. This is something to watch very carefully.

The Obama Administration has been inclined to play a balancing act in Yemen of supporting a democratic transition while also trying not to isolate President Saleh who has been very cooperative on counterterrorism. We’ll see if that balancing act can continue as a new regime comes to power.

In Afghanistan you have the reoccurrence of perhaps an inevitable phenomenon - lots of troops in a country where they are not as familiar with cultural sensitivities. Things go wrong that inflame local passions and nationalism.

And in Egypt, you have the trial of the nineteen Americans.

I’m struck at how in this one week you have seen – from Afghanistan to Yemen to Syria to Iran to Egypt – all these places at a boil. One reason for this, I suspect, is that oil is at over $105 a barrel. This adds to a very tense situation where any one of the places could spill over into something even more serious.

In protest of ACTA(The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:26:50 -0500

In protest of ACTA(The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement.) , Polish Parliament members wear Anonymous masks in chambers on January 26 2012. P.S: this is what winning looks like…

How Africa plays into Iran’s nuclear ambitions

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:29:00 -0500

Though often overlooked, Africa plays a critical role in Iran’s quest to become a nuclear state.

Iran’s first uranium shipment came in the 1970s from a then nuclear South Africa, and as late as 1997 during Nelson Mandela’s administration, South Africa was purportedly in talks to share its enrichment expertise with Iran, an allegation that Pretoria has refuted. Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2005 election, however, Iran has viewed Africa as imperative for its nuclear program for three primary purposes: uranium, diplomatic support, and geostrategic protection.

Zimbabwe, one of Iran’s most reliable African allies and home to some 450,000 tons of uranium ore, signed a 2009 memorandum of understanding with Iran granting the latter exclusive mining rights to all “strategic” Zimbabwean minerals - including uranium - in return for long-term fuel assistance. Again in 2011, Iran’s foreign minister met with a representative of Zimbabwe’s mining agency to “resume negotiations … for the benefit of Iran’s uranium procurement plan.”

Other Iranian attempts at getting to Africa’s uranium have been more fraught. Controversially, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia in 2006 accused Iran of providing a range of weapons to the insurgent Islamic Courts Union (ICU) so as to be allowed access to certain Somali uranium deposits. A 2009 United Nations investigation confirmed that Iran had supplied the rebel group with military assistanceand also asserted that Iran might have sought to collaborate with Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a U.S.-designated terrorist and radical Islamist, so as to explore the possibility of purchasing uranium from his hometown of Dhusa Mareb.

Iran’s African uranium pursuits were roiled in controversy again in 2006, when officials in Tanzania uncovered a secret shipment of uranium originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s Lumbashi mines en route to Iran. In 2007, the Commissioner General of the DRC’s atomic agency was accused of smuggling uranium out of the country to sell to Tehran.Thwarted again: Tehran’s pursuit of the ore from Niger, the world’s sixth-largest uranium producer, was derailed when that country’s president, Mamadou Tandja, was ousted in a coup d’etat in February 2010.

While Iran views Africa as a critical market for uranium, as concerns its nuclear program, it more importantly sees the continent as a do-or-die ally both diplomatically and geostrategically.

Diplomatically, Iran views Africa’s 54 states - more than one-quarter of the entire UN General Assembly - as imperative allies in global fora critical of its nuclear program. An international pariah himself, Ahmadinejad is constantly engaged in an unending search for friends. Thus when talking to African states, Iran has gone to great lengths to paint the United Nations and its subsidiary International Atomic Energy Agency as sycophantic lackeys of an imperial West of which many African governments and civil societies are still wary. Instead, Iran says, its nuclear program operates exclusively for peaceful purposes, and international furor has been caused more by Western realpolitik bullying than any actual threat that its program might present.

In response to these peace-promising overtures, African states broadly fall into two camps. While many of the continent’s more internationally visible states such as Nigeria and South Africa have stated bluntly that they do not want Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon (though they do support its right to access peaceful nuclear technology), some of Africa’s more prodigal states like Isaias Afiwerki’s Eritrea are more supportive of an Iranian nuclear weapon. As Afiwerki questioned, “If there are nuclear dangers and problems, why they cannot be solved within the region, among the countries which feel the danger if Iran has such intentions?”

But as its Strait of Hormuz threats underline, when it comes to the Iranian nuclear program, geospatial control is arguably more important than ideological allies. Unsurprisingly then, African states’ greater instrumental value for Tehran are as friendly strategic buffers in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that can protect Iran in the event of an invasion to halt its nuclear activities. To win African allies, Iran has deepened its naval cooperation with strategic littoral African states Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan.

Since 2009 it has also begun to help patrol the beleaguered Gulf of Aden against Somali piracy alongside the United States, China, and India. Though to be sure, its seeming collaboration with so many potential adversaries is more the mark of a defiantly aspirant regional hegemon than of an increasingly cooperative but historically misunderstood outcast.

For most, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open remains a primarily economic matter. Nevertheless, ignoring Africa’s potential role in abetting the larger underlying issue of the emergence of a nuclear weapon-wielding Iran could ultimately prove far more costly than any barrel of oil could ever be.

Election 2012 Obama V.S Who?

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:42:25 -0500

Who do you feel will win the Republican nomination? Will a Republican Presidential candidate be able to win the General Election against President Obama?

The Tax System Explained in Beer

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:23:00 -0500

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like
this…

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you
are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your
daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what
about the other six men ? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that
everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that
from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill
by a h higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the
tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he
suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their
savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He
pointed to the tenth man,”but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too.
It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I
got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get
anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks so the nine sat down
and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of
them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our
tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will
naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much,
attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In
fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat
friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. – Professor of Economics.

Iran is weak and getting weaker

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:23:49 -0500

There’s not much foreign policy talk on the campaign trail except for one issue - Iran. Everyone is talking about Iran’s new strength and assertiveness - its missile tests, its progress on the nuclear program, its moves in Iraq. Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, describes Iran as “the greatest threat that the world faces over the next decade.” Newt Gingrich has compared the Iranian challenge to the rise of Hitler’s Germany. More measured commentators also see Iran’s rising influence and power across the Middle East.

In fact, the real story on the ground is that Iran is weak and getting weaker. Sanctions have pushed the economy into a nose-dive. The political system is fractured and fragmenting. Abroad, its closest ally and the regime of which it is almost the sole supporter - Syria - is itself crumbling. The Persian Gulf monarchies have banded together against Iran and shored up their relations with Washington. Last week, Saudi Arabia closed its largest-ever purchase of U.S. weaponry.

The simplest measure of Iran’s strength is its currency. When Barack Obama became president, you could buy 9,700 rials with one dollar. Since then, the dollar has appreciated 60 percent against the rial, meaning you can buy 15,600 rials.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told parliament recently that the latest sanctions were “the most extensive . . . sanctions ever” and that “this is the heaviest economic onslaught on a nation in history . . . every day, all our banking and trade activities and our agreements are being monitored and blocked.” The price of food staples has soared 40 percent the past few months, Reuters reported this week.

The Iranian government’s reaction to the prospects of sanctions that could hit its oil exports shows its desperation. First, one of its admirals threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, invoking the Persian expression that this would be as easy as “drinking a glass of water.” But a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards - Iran’s crucial power source - quickly backtracked, explaining that Tehran has no intention of blocking the strait.

Frankly it would be madness to do so because Iran would suffer more than any country. Blocking the strait would result in a near total shutdown of Iran’s exports and imports; and with 60 percent of Iran’s economy coming from oil exports, that would bring the government to a standstill.

Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program is making progress. This is inevitable: Nuclear technology is 70 years old; Iran has a serious scientific community, and it sees a nuclear program as an emblem of national security and pride. But do we think of North Korea as strong and on the rise because it has a few crude nuclear devices?

The Obama administration has put tremendous pressure on Iran on a variety of fronts — far more pressure than the Bush administration was ever able to muster. This is, in part, because the pressure has been brought to bear, wherever possible, with other countries. The United States does not buy oil from Iran. But European nations, Japan and South Korea do, and if they go along with a new round of sanctions, Iran faces the real prospect of an economic freefall.

The Obama administration seems to have concluded that the Iranian regime is not ready or able to make a strategic reconciliation with the West. The regime is too divided and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate authority, the Supreme Leader, is too ideologically rigid. So for now Washington wants to build pressure on Iran in the hopes that this will force the regime into serious negotiations at some point.

This strategy is understandable. But it also risks building up pressures that could take a course of their own — with explosive consequences. The price of oil is rising during a global slump only because of these political risks. Without a carefully considered strategy, these risks will grow. Weak countries whose regimes face pressure can sometimes cause more problems than strong nations.

What political party do you typically fall under?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:33:29 -0500

Very Good question. Typically I would fall under the Democratic Side of the Aisle, but I also evaluate what ever it is I am wanting to Advocate. So For example I will not always vote democrat if I don’t like the guy running. A good example is I think Ron Paul would be a good President. So I Typically am Democrat maybe even Socialist, but do have moments of Exceptions to that. I like to go for the better idea.